Reoffender
by GiraffeGirl
Summary: As Rose packs to leave again after Christmas, she and Mickey have a domestic.


**Because Adelian said I should carry on writing song fics. The lyrics from the start of this one come from "Reoffender" by Travis. Possibly a bit too much dialogue and not enough description... let me know what you think.**

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**_I'm fooling myself. Cause you say you love me, then you do it again, you do it again. You say your sorries, then you do it again, you do it again and again and again and again and again._

Mickey watched her silently for several seconds, as she began thrusting various items of clothing into her oversized rucksack. She'd asked for a new one for Christmas. It was the only thing she'd asked for at all. Jackie had spent long hours discussing it with him, but, as she said, a rucksack was a rucksack, there wasn't much to discuss.

"Why can't she be like normal girls?" she'd moaned on more than one occasion. "Tina the cleaner's niece, she's asked for one of those knock-off handbags, you know, like all the girls have got from the market. But a rucksack?"

She'd bought her one though, top of the range, or at least the bloke on the stall on Sefton Street had said it was. Lots of room in it for all your bits and pieces, and strong straps too. Rose seemed pleased with it. She'd opened it amidst tons of squeals on Christmas Day. Mickey noticed how she'd managed to react much more quietly to the present he'd given her that morning.

"It's great, Mum!" she'd exclaimed. "Look!" She'd turned eagerly towards him then, the strange man in their midst. "Big enough for even more stuff," she'd said, a mischevious smile playing out across her face. She hadn't shown Mickey at all.

And now she was packing everything away into it, shoving bras and socks and t shirts and scarves and jumpers and jeans untidily away. She'd got to the stage where the bag was almost full to bursting and yet the pile on her bed didn't seem to be getting any smaller. It was whilst she was leaning her full weight on the bag to try and gain a few more inches of room in it that he spoke.

"Need some help?"

Rose yelped and turned round. "God, Mickey, you scared me half to death!" she said, laughing. "No, I'm fine, I've got it all under control." She forced another t shirt in.

"Do you really need all this stuff?" Mickey asked, as a rogue sock edged its way out.

"Well I don't exactly know where I'm going," she admitted, burying the sock deep inside the bag, daring it to return to the sunlight lands. "It could be hot, cold, day night, spring, winter, raining, sunny, snowing…" She turned round, as if she'd just remembered something, and produced a pair of earmuffs from under a pile of discarded clothes. "Might need these!"

Mickey sat down on her bed and watched for a few moments as she moved around the room, collecting yet more things for her trip. She had a point; she had no idea where she was going or what to or how long she'd be gone. And as far as he could tell, there were no washing machines on board that thing the two of them travelled in. At least, she always brought everything home for Jackie to deal with, and he… he always wore the same things. Or at least each face of him did.

Rose glanced over at him eventually. "What?"

"What?"

"Why do you keep staring at me?"

"I don't!"

"Yeah, you do!" Rose retorted. She hadn't lost any of that attitude on her travels.

"Well, so what if I do?" Great comeback. "I'm entitled to, aren't I? You are my girlfriend."

Rose dropped her gaze and she went back to her backing. Mickey decided to push the point further.

"Aren't you?"

"Aren't I what?"

"My girlfriend."

She laughed, but it was a fake, don't-be-so-silly laugh. "Don't be stupid, Mickey, course I am." She pulled a face. "What am I missing? I'm missing something aren't I? Um…. Toothbrush, that's it, toothbrush. I've got a new one round here somewhere…" She dived to the floor and began rooting through all the plastic bags littered everywhere.

Mickey picked up the packet lying on her bedside table. "This what you're looking for?"

Rose looked up and smiled. "Great, thanks!" She took it off him and zipped into one of the pockets. "Right, I'm almost done, I think."

Mickey scuffed his trainers against each other, looking at the floor. "When are you going?"

"Can't wait to get rid of me, can you?" Rose laughed again. She shrugged. "Not sure, soon. He's already getting restless."

He was always getting restless, or at least that's what she called it. She'd said so many times "The Doctor doesn't do domestic" but Mickey wanted her to show him a man alive who did. He didn't know why she always had to make out this Doctor was so special.

"How long are you going for?"

She shrugged again.

"You must have some sort of idea."

"I don't." Rose snapped the bag shut and heaved it onto the floor. "What's with the interrogation anyway?"  
"I'm just curious."

There was a silence for a few seconds. Rose's eyes flickered over to him, as he continued to sit moodily on her bed.

"Why are you so miserable?" she demanded.

He shrugged.

"Mickey!"

"Oh, I don't know, let's see shall we? My girlfriend's spent the last year away with some strange bloke, never tells me where she's going or what she's doing or when she'll be back. Now she comes back and everything's great for a few weeks and then she's off again, only with a different bloke. And I'm supposed to be fine with it all."

Rose's jaw jutted out awkwardly. "He's not a different bloke."

"Says who? Him?" He rolled his eyes. "Exactly what some alien kind of thing would say."

"He's not a different bloke," Rose repeated. "I know he's not."

"How?"

"I just… know."

"Looks different to me."

"You don't know him like I do."

"And just how do you know him?"

Rose glared at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know what I mean."

"Mickey, now you're being ridiculous."

"Am I? Just what is the deal with you two?"

"We're just…" Rose shrugged.

"Just what? Friends? Companions? Lovers? Soulmates? What?"

Rose rolled her eyes.

"I've got a right to know if my girlfriend's off sleeping around with aliens and god knows what else!"

"I'm not sleeping with anyone!" Rose snapped, her eyes flashing angrily at him. "What do you think I am, Mickey, some sort of slapper? I'm going out with you, why would I sleep with someone else?"

"Well you're certainly not sleeping with me, are you?"

"Oh, is that what all this is about?" Rose asked. "That you haven't got any since I've been back! God, Mickey, sometimes you can be so childish!"

"No, that isn't what this is all about!" Mickey stood up and took a step towards her. "This is about you never being straight with me, never telling me what's going on, never pausing for one second to consider me before you decide to run off with him!"

"You're jealous."

"Of what?"

"The Doctor."

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah you are!"

"No, I'm not! I'm sick of being the one left behind, Rose. You didn't stop for a second to even think about me when you went after him the first time, did you? Not for a second. You didn't even call me when you got back, you just…" He shook his head.

"Mickey, I'm sorry, I've said it dozens of times, I was going to call I just…" Rose shrugged.

"And in Cardiff… you couldn't wait to get back to him, could you? Couldn't wait to go racing back to make sure he was okay, never mind leaving your boyfriend, the one you're supposed to love, standing out in the middle of an apocalypse."

"And I'm sorry about that too…"

"But that's all you ever say, Rose, sorry for this, sorry for that. It doesn't mean anything, it's just words. You don't ever change."

"Mickey, I'm…" Rose broke off and searched for some other words to say. "It'll be different this time," she insisted hastily. "I'll call you, I'll visit more, you might even be able to come with us."

He shook his head. "You don't mean it."

"Yeah I do!" Rose nodded eagerly and put her arms round his neck. "I have missed you, Mickey, I love you, whatever you might think. And I really am sorry to keep doing this to you."

He slipped his arms around her waist and tried to hold off from what he was about to say. She was smiling up at him, the way she used to all the time, the Rose he knew. But his tongue let him down. "Then don't."

She frowned. "What?"

"Don't do it again. Stay." She loosened her hold around his neck. "What? It could be like it was before, you could stay, we could get a flat together, you could get a job… what?" He asked, confused and hurt as she stepped away from him.

She shook her head. "You don't get it, do you? All of this," she waved an arm around her room. "It's just…"

"You think you're better than it don't you?"

"No! I don't!"

"Yes you do."

"Well so what if I do?" Rose challenged him suddenly. "What if I do think that? It's true, I am better than this, I'm better than sitting round watching television and eating chips and going to work in a job I hate every day. There's a whole world out there, Mickey, a whole universe, tons of them. Things are happening right at this second that you couldn't imagine, to people you have no idea exist. And you want me to sit in a poky one-bedroom flat with you, watching sport and talking about nothing?" She shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry, I can't do that."

There was knock on the front door. They both looked up.

"That'll be him." Rose picked up her rucksack and pushed past Mickey towards the door.

"Rose, wait. What about us?"

She turned back to look at him. "What about us?"

"Well, are we good?"

"What do you mean?"

He looked down self-consciously. "Are we still… you know…?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

She raised her eyebrows pointedly.

"Rose, I'm sorry, okay, I know you hate it when I go on and on…"

"But you still keep doing it!"

"I love you, I just want you to be happy!"

"I am happy!"

"But…"

"But what?"

"But not with me."

She regarded him coolly and didn't reply. Finally she put the rucksack onto her back. "I've got to go, Mickey. Are you going to come and say goodbye?"

He nodded. He was getting used to saying that.


End file.
